It’s summer. It’s hot. Girls are going to go outside in skirts, shorts, crop tops and dresses. Why? Because it’s too hot to be covered from head to toe. No, we aren’t dressing ‘provocatively’ to get attention from men. Women wear less during the summer, not only for their health, but because they have the right to.

“If you say that a woman wearing revealing clothes deserves to be sexually assaulted, you are saying a woman’s body is inherently deserving of rape. That women are inherently deserving of rape. That women have to make sure their body is hidden in order to not deserve to be raped. That is misogyny in its purest form.” – Unknown

The funny thing about our society is the amount of double standards that exist within it. Men, for example, can walk around completely topless, wearing only a pair of jeans or shorts and no one will bat an eyelid. Girls, however, will be judged and shamed the moment they step out of the house wearing a skirt that shows a little bit “too much” (by societies standards) leg, a top that exposes a bit of cleavage or one that shows her stomach. Why? Because the female body is over-sexualised.

PREJUDICE WITHIN SOCIETY: WOMEN CAN’T WIN

The picture below is from an art project conducted by Rosea Lake called ‘Judgements’. The picture shows what society thinks about women based on the length of her skirt and it couldn’t be more accurate.

It doesn’t metter whether you choose to wear a long, medium or short skirt. As a woman, you are going to get judged no matter what. If it’s considered too short, you’re a slut. If it’s considered too long, you’re a prude. And then there’s everything in between.

A woman’s worth is in no way measured by the length of her skirt or dress or the amount of clothes she chooses to wear.

Okay, so you might not agree with the length of someone’s skirt, but that is no reason to belittle them. What they’re wearing has no affect on you whatsoever; if you don’t like it you can simply ignore it rather than reducing someones self-worth and knocking the confidence they undoubtedly worked extremely hard to build. And most importantly, no girl is ever ‘asking for it’. Instead of shaming women and telling them to cover up in order to protect themselves and their modesty, maybe we should be teaching men that women deserve respect regardless of the length of their skirt and stop perpetuating rape culture.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO DRESS FOR YOURSELF

Since I’ve started dressing for myself, I’ve felt a lot happier and a lot more confident than I did before. I’ve accepted the fact that not everyone’s going to like or agree with my choice in clothing and I’ve learnt that, at the end of the day, it’s my body and I’m in charge of how I dress it. I’ve learnt to ignore the disapproving looks and suggestive comments from strangers because I’ve realised that I don’t care what they think. We’re strangers to each other. So if they don’t like what I’m wearing then that’s their problem, not mine.

I choose to wear skirts and shorts during the summer because it keeps me cool, I like the way they look, and most importantly, because I’m dressing for myself.